


The Man in the Ice

by chiixil_84



Series: Chronicles of War [2]
Category: Transformers, Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bayformers, Transformers (2007) - Freeform, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 07:01:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20466950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiixil_84/pseuds/chiixil_84
Summary: Archibald Witwicky was always considered a brave man, from his scientific peers to the men on his crew. The exploration all began as a way to gather more data, but with a quick detour, he found himself traversing what he thought was a new island in the sea of ice.Oh, how wrong he was.





	The Man in the Ice

The world had stopped to take in Archibald Witwicky’s insane task of crossing the Arctic Circle with a fleck of cynicism and a pool of curiosity. Despite the scrutiny, he was a scientist first; he would be damned sure to prove to the world that it _wasn’t _a fool’s errand to seek out resources in the Arctic shelf.

The world was changing, and they had to keep up with the demands to transform with it.

It was proving to be a little challenging, however: in the spring, his expedition had gone swimmingly, but now as the months turned to summer and crept towards autumn, the free-flowing waters had slowed, now refusing to allow the boat safe passage. It was at this point in their voyage that Archibald had been most annoyed at: they had been in the middle of nowhere for at least a week, chipping away at the ice with last-century tools.

To say in the least, the old man was _tired_.

Staring across the deck down to the ice the ship had been glued to, Archibald watched with slight defeat as he realized he might have to turn their ship around once it was free; they wouldn’t have enough time to document the Bering Strait as planned, and would be worse-off than stranded if they remained much longer.

“Come inside the cabin, sir,” his first mate asked him meekly, pulling the older man out from his thoughts.

Turning to face his younger first mate, the scientist scoffed and grumbled, his peppered mustache vividly wiggling as he spoke, “No, son, I believe I am fine right here.”

The man sighed gently, and urged quietly, “Sir, you’ll get _sick_.”

Some of Archibald’s crew had just gotten over one of the worst cases of pneumonia he’d ever experienced on a ship, having been stuck inside their cabins with blankets piled on top of them for days. The other crew members had picked up the slack, but it was becoming quite clear there wouldn’t be a man standing at the rate they were going. He was lucky enough to not have gotten sick himself, but his crew always seemed to worry over him like nursing maids rather than toughened sailors.

Sighing exasperatedly, the older man ran a gloved hand over his face and murmured, “Just call me up if anything happens. Alright?”

The first mate smiled at Archibald and helped him back to his small cabin, promising, “Of course, sir, you’ll be the first to know.”

[…] 

He really _would_ be the first to know.

The ship lurched forward with an ugly scraping sound echoing through the ship’s bowels, startling Archibald awake before a flustered first mate appeared, illuminated with the flickering of an oil lamp in his doorway. Moonlight drifted down through the hatch above, casting an eerie glow on the young man’s face.

“It’s… what, hardly past three in the morning?” the elder Witwicky slurred, annoyed, rubbing a hand through his fluffed beard. “What the Hell is going on with my ship?”

“Sir, we’ve _hit _something.” Archibald stopped for a moment, utterly confused.

Slowly, Archibald asked, “Hit _what_, son?”

The younger man looked like a flounder as he tried speaking but failed, his eyes and mouth wide in disbelief.

Shirking off his bedding roughly, Archibald began to pull on his heavy clothing, ordering the first mate, “Get me as many men willing to go search for whatever we hit. Have the rest stay on the ship with lanterns until we get back.”

“Aye!” the first mate squeaked as he rushed off, his voice distantly calling the names of other crew members to come to help their captain.

Archibald shook his head and sucked in a tight breath, worried about just what it could have been that they hit.

A carcass of a whale? 

The scientist shook his head._ No, these men have seen plenty of whales in their lifetimes. They wouldn’t be so shaken up over a frozen whale. _

Perhaps it was another ship?

He almost wanted to laugh, chastising himself at the thought, _With the amount of free-flow these waters have been giving us the last few months? Impossible. _He shook his head again, tightening the laces of his boots frustratedly. _No; there’d be no chance. _

Then really, what _was _it that hit their ship?

_ An iceberg? _he thought worriedly. _Or perhaps..._He thought back to the excitement on his first mate’s face._ We’ve hit land?_

The elderly man became excited, if only for a moment, before calmly reminding himself as he tugged on his large coat, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Arch. You focus on what you know, and you know nothing right now. We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?” He stumbled out from the hold of the bowels of the ship, squinting as the white landscape opened up around him. His first mate calling to him, Archibald strode towards the other man and listened intently as he was given a list of names that would follow him out onto the shelf.

“Give us a few hours,” the scientist told the first mate, eyeing him seriously. “If we don’t make any signs to you that we are okay by then, try to get the ship free.”

The first mate regarded Archibald carefully, but nodded. “Of course, sir.”

“Now, men!” he barked to the others, raising his voice as he turned to the other forty men. “Whoever is willing, ready yourselves and come with me now! We’ll be heading out shortly.” As he spoke, about five men began to grab picks, torches, rope, and two of their seven dogs, silently working as they prepared for the worst.

Whatever hit their boat had forced their ship up onto the lip of the ice sheet, leaving them quite stuck. It would certainly take a few hours to get them out of this predicament with picks and concentrated burns to the ice... but the elder Witwicky didn’t want to push his luck farther than he already was.

Archibald wanted to be there and back again before anything befell his men, either the ones going with him or the remaining ones.

He prayed nothing bad would happen today.

[…] 

An hour had passed since the five men-plus-two dogs-plus-Archibald had begun walking along the ice sheet, and to his absolute surprise, the bitter winds had stopped blowing just long enough to allow them to cross a far-enough distance that he could barely make out the lanterns on the ship from this distance.

The scientist feared the worst, but so far had seen nothing go wrong.

The ice shifted ever so slightly when their journey first began, groaning defiantly underneath the men’s weight, but they pressed forward, the noises beneath their feet stopped. The ship was the farthest away now than ever, and the men were _certain_ they were on solid land at this point. Even if this was a land fixture that wasn’t on any of his maps, he had promised to get everyone home, safe and sound, and would do so even if it meant he dragged them back himself.

Even if it meant he didn’t fully explore this new landscape.

Staring at the slightly brightening sky, Archibald commented to his companions, a sad smile on his face, “You ever get to see anything this beautiful on the mainland, lads?”

The men stopped for a moment to follow the older man’s gaze, and each of them gave their own humble version of, “No.”

Smiling wider though still terribly sad, the man replied, “We might not get to see more of it after this year. Everything’s changing, and I fear our journey may be the last of its kind.” It was true: the world was getting smaller, and every major government in the world was snatching every available piece of land up before it could be protected.

The men remained silent at his words, unsure of how to give anything – advice, condolences, hope – back to the scientist to remedy the situation. They’d all done the best they could out here, and they were honored to have even tried something no-one else had done before.

Whatever the outcome for this new island would be, they could at least say they saw it, first.

Shrieks from suddenly-terrified dogs broke the silence of the men.

Archibald looked back ahead of him to the front of the group where the dogs and their handlers forwarded the small company, calling out to the men, “What’s going on with them?”

Struggling to control their dogs, one of the men replied, “I-I don’t know, sir! They’re just acting really odd now.”

“Why else would they be so startled?” Archibald said, looking back at the dogs as they struggled against their handlers’ leads.

“It could be anything!” the other dog handler ground out, working on trying to calm his dog down. “They’re acting like, _God calm down!_ Like ice is about to give way?”

“Bah!” the scientist retorted, snorting haughtily as he continued moving forward. “We haven’t been over ice for the last few miles, why would the dogs think that we were—”

He felt the ground suddenly give way under a patch of snow he bounded over, feeling his stomach fall before he realized that _he _was _falling_.

_ Far. _

Screams of his men were heard as he was jostled down ten feet into a slushy area, his boots covered with icy water but with no clear indication of where it was coming from.

Having hardly fallen a high distance, Archibald felt his ankles give way but did not fall forward himself. Outwardly, he said, “Thank you,” to nothing in particular, sighing in relief as he took a few tentative steps forward. His lantern flew out of his hands during the fall, skittering over the icy ground until it hit a wall on the opposite side of the cavern.

“I am quite alright!” he called back to the men screaming his name above, waving a hand and hoping he’d be seen by the men despite the darkness he was covered in. “Just a nasty tumble. I seem to be in a cavern of sorts!” The voices of his crew began to fade away as he swung his gaze wildly around the room, drinking in the details of the cavern. “This is marvelous!” Glassy, almost cobalt blue-like ice made up the walls, floors, and ceilings, with the light from his lantern casting an eerie glow throughout the area. “This is almost perfect ice,” Archibald called up, hoping they could hear him. He walked over to his lantern, picking it up to continue his exploration. “Nearly impossible to make in nature. It has to be cooled, thawed, and re-cooled in just the correct way, or else it wouldn’t come out this clear!”

He swung his lantern to his left, then his right, seeing his reflection on both sides of the wall.

Once again to the left, Archibald swung the light –

– and before him sat the face of a giant.

A scream escaped him before he could register anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Didn't feel comfortable putting this straight into my chapters for Their War, Our World, so here it is in its own little thing lol. This is super short because... yeah lol.
> 
> Think I'll do this for a ton of other chapters as they pop along; I have so many like these, I'll just post them as the information in them becomes relevant.


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